Pickle slicing apparatus



April 23, 1957 I, s' ARER 2,789,605

PICKLE SLICING APPARATUS Filed April 29, 1955 INVENTOR. 15 40 ORE SPABER 2,789,605 PICKLE SLICING APPARATUS Isadore Sparer, Detroit, Mich. Application April 29, 1955, Serial No. 504,835 2 Claims. (Cl. 146-113) This invention relates to a pickle slicing apparatus and, more particularly, to a pickle slicing apparatus adapted for slicing pickles at an angle so that the user may slice of pickle, which would be larger in size than the ordinary cross-section of a pickle, it was necessary to use very large pickles having a large cross-section. The use of such large pickles is not desirous in most cases because they have big seeds, and, many of these large pickles are hollow, which factors are not pleasing to the people eating the sandwiches on which such pickle slices are used. When small pickles are used, the slices are small in size, it takes more time to put them on the sandwich, and many times they fall out the side of the sandwich. Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a pickle slicing apparatus which is capable of slicing a pickle at an angle, other than transversely, so as to provide larger slices from small pickles, a result which is not obtainable with the present pickle slicing machines.

It is another object of this invention to provide a pickle slicing apparatus for slicing small pickles at an angle, relative to the axis of the pickle, to provide a long slice which may be used on a sandwich and be allowed to protrude therefrom, to show the customer that the sandwich contains a pickle, yet which will not fall out, as does slices cut acrossly from a small pickle.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pickle slicing machine for slicing pickles at an angle relative to the axis thereof, which is simple and rugged in construction, economical of manufacture, and efiicient in operation.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a pickle slicing machine including a base, an aperture in said base, a rotary cutter suitably mounted over said aperture, means for rotating said cutter, a guide means disposed on said base adjacent to said cutter, said guide means being disposed at an acute angle relative to the plane of the cutter, and means for manually moving a pickle through said guide means against said cutter for slicing the pickle at an angle relative to its longitudinal axis.

It is another object of the invention to provide a pickle slicing machine for slicing pickles at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the pickles.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specifica- States Patent 2,789,605 Patented Apr. 23, 1957 "ice 2 tion wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts of the several views.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partially broken away, of an illustrative embodiment made in accordance with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevational view, partly in section, of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, taken along the line 22 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a partial elevational view, partly in section, of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, and showing in enlargement, the pickle feeding mechanism, taken along the line 3-3 thereof;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, enlarged, horizontal sectional view of the front end of the pickle feeding rod, showing the serrations thereon for engagement with the pickle, and taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevational view of the rotary pickle cutter employed in the invention; and,

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5, taken along the line 6-6 thereof.

Before explaining the invention in detail, it is to be understood, that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood, that the phraseology and tenninology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not limitation.

Referring now to the drawing, and more particularly, to Fig. l, the numeral 10 designates generally the base of the apparatus on which is suitably fixed a supporting member 12 having fixedly mounted thereon an electric motor 14. The motor 14 is provided with the usual drive shaft 16 carrying a pulley 18 on the end thereof which drives a drive belt 20. The belt 20 is operatively mounted around a lower pulley 22 for actuation thereof. The pulley 22 is fixedly mounted on the rear end of a horizontal drive shaft 24 which is suitably rotatably mounted on the base 10. The drive shaft 24 carries fixedly mounted on the front end thereof, a rotary cutting means 26 which is provided with a pair of diametrically disposed cutting knives 28. As is best seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the knives 28 are laterally spaced from the back part of the means 26 and are fixed on a centrally disposed portion 29 of the means 26.

As viewed in Fig. 5, the cutting knives 28 are curved on the cutting edge side thereof, and are adapted to be rotated counterclockwise when in operation. In order to provide maximum safety to the operator of the invention, the instant apparatus is provided with a safety guard 30 which extends from the front of the machine rearwardly towards the motor, and which is adapted to cover the cutting means and the pulley and belt drive means. The guard may be made in one piece or in a number of pieces, as desired.

As shown in Fig. l, the base 10 is provided with an aperture 32, which is disposed below the cutting means 26 so that the pickle slices may drop down into a suitable container (not shown) disposed under the base 10. Fixedly mounted on the base 10, by any suitable means, is the pickle feeding means, generally designated by the numeral 34, and which is disposed with its forward end adjacent the cutting means 26. The pickle feeding means 34 is disposed at an acute angle to the plane of the rotary cutting means 26, so that when a pickle is moved against the cutter it will be cut at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the pickle and'thus cut a longer slice than would be possible if the pickle was cut transversely.

The pickle feeding means 34 is roughly trough shaped in cross-section and comprises a bottom wall 36, to which are integrally joined a pair of spaced side walls 38 and The forward end, that is, the end of the feeding means near the cutter 26 is covered with a top wall 42 which starts at the point marked 44, as shown in Fig. 3. Centrally mounted in the feeding means is a longitudinally extending supporting means 46 which is disposed in the rearward part of the feeding means, and, which is provided with a pair of upwardly extending straps as 48 and 50. Slidably mounted on the supporting means 46 is a feeding plunger or rod 52 which is held or retained on the supporting means 46 by means of the straps 48 and 50. The plunger 52 is provided with a handle 56 on its outer end, and with a stop member 54 to limit its forward movement in the feeding trough. The plunger 52 may be pulled out backwardly, and completely removed from the feeding trough for cleaning purposes. As best shown in Fig. 2, the supporting means 46 and plunger 52 is laterally spaced from the trough side walls 38 and 40, to prevent pickle particles from becoming jammed between the plunger 52 and the walls of the trough. The plunger 52 is also spaced from the top wall 42 to prevent pickle slices from being jammed therebetween. The plunger should be spaced from the walls of the trough by at least a good quarter of an inch or more. A slight clearance is not sufiicient, and causes the plunger to jam. The plunger 52 must also be disposed substantially in the center of the trough for best performance thereof, to prevent the pickle from jamming in the trough when it is moved against the cutter. As best shown in Fig. 4, the front end of the plunger 58 is provided with a sloping surface which is serrated or notched to provide a gripping surface for engagement with the pickles. When in operative position. in the trough, the front surface 58 will be substantially parallel to the plane of the cutting means 26;

In use, the plunger 52 would be pulled back manually to the position shown in heavy lines in Fig. 3, and a pickle as 60 would be inserted by the operator in the trough immediately ahead of the plunger front surface 58; The operator would" then move the plunger 52 forwardly which action moves the pickle 69 against the rotating cutting knives 28, which slice the pickle at an angle relative to its longitudinal axis. When all the pickle has been sliced the plunger 52 will have assumed a position as shown in Fig. 3, with the front end thereof as at the numeral 64, and, the stop member 54 will be substantially at the point designated 62 The operator then retracts the plunger 52 and inserts another pickle in the trough ahead of the plunger and the same cycle is repeated.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodi ment of the invention herein disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change without departing from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A pickle slicing apparatus of the class described,

comprising: a horizontal base; an aperture in said base; a horiiontal shaft rotatably mounted on said base and extending over said aperture; a motor mounted on said base; means for operatively connecting said motor to said shaft for actuation thereof; a rotary cutting means mounted on the end of said shaft and being disposed over the aperture in the base for rotation in a vertical plane; a horizontally disposed elongated U-shaped pickle guide means mounted on said base and including a horizontal bottom wall and two spaced vertical side walls which extend vertically upwardly from the bottom wall; the front end of said. pickle guide means being formed at an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis thereof and being disposed adjacent the cutting means in a plane parallel to the vertical plane of the cutting means; an inverted U-shaped support fixedly mounted in the rearward end of said pickle guide means; a pickle feeding plunger, capable of being moved from a retracted inoperative position to an advanced operative pickle feeding position, slidably mounted on the bight portion on said inverted U-shapedsupport and being provided with vertical side faces; each of the. side walls of said pickle guide means being spaced at least one-quarter of an inch from the adjacent vertical side face of said pickle feeding plunger to provide clearance for the passage therebetween of pickle particles which may collect in said pickle guide'means and get jammed between the pickle plunger and the side walls of said pickle guide means; a pair of straps surrounding said pickle feeding plunger .and being fixedto said support for retaining the plunger on said support; astop means on said plunger for limiting the inward. movement thereof; a handle on said plunger for manual operation thereof; and, the forward end of said guide means being enclosed by a top wall which is spaced apart from the front end of said plunger support, whereby, a pickle may be disposed in said pickle guide means on the bottom wall thereof in front of said plunger support, with the longitudinal axis of the pickle being parallel to the longitudinal axis of said pickle guide means, when the pickle plunger is in the retracted inoperative position, and, whereby, when the pickle plunger is moved forwardly to the operative position the pickle will be fed against the rotary cutting means and will be cut into slices having a length greater than the transverse width of the pickle.

2. The invention asdefined in claim 1, wherein: the inner end of said pickle plunger is provided with a sidewardly tapered pickle engaging face which is substantially parallel with the vertical plane of the cutting means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 298,623 Reichert May 13, 1884 343,587 Koch'et al.- June 15, 1886 1,809,764 Trunz June 9, 1931 2,275,524 Gronich Mar. 10, 1942 2,690,198 Anderson Sept. 28, 1954 

